A BILL to amend and reenact §30-29-1, §30-29-2, §30-29-3 and §30-29-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all
relating to certifying law-enforcement officers generally;
expanding the responsibilities of the law-enforcement training
subcommittee and renaming it the law-enforcement professional
standards subcommittee; clarifying the authority to decertify
or reactivate a law-enforcement officer’s certification;
adding the West Virginia Troopers Association to the
subcommittee membership; expanding duties of the Governor’s
committee and the subcommittee; separating from a law-enforcement agency results in an officer’s certification
becoming inactive; reactivating a law-enforcement officer’s
certification by the subcommittee, if acting as the Governor’s
committee’s designee; providing a procedure to have an
officer’s certification reactivated; rehiring of officer
reactivated not required; and providing for immunity from
civil liability.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §30-29-1, §30-29-2, §30-29-3 and §30-29-5 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:

ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.

§30-29-1. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article, unless a different meaning
clearly appears in the context:

(1) "Approved law-enforcement training academy" means any
training facility which is approved and authorized to conduct law-enforcement training as provided in this article;

(2) "Chief executive" means the superintendent of the State
Police; the chief natural resources police officer of the Division
of Natural Resources; the sheriff of any West Virginia county; any
administrative deputy appointed by the chief natural resources
police officer of the Division of Natural Resources; or the chief
of any West Virginia municipal law-enforcement agency;

(3) "County" means the fifty-five major political subdivisions
of the state;

(4) "Exempt rank" means any noncommissioned or commissioned
rank of sergeant or above;

(5) "Governor's committee on crime, delinquency and
correction" or "Governor's committee" means the Governor's
committee on crime, delinquency and correction established as a
state planning agency pursuant to section one, article nine,
chapter fifteen of this code;

(6) "Law-enforcement officer" means any duly authorized member
of a law-enforcement agency who is authorized to maintain public
peace and order, prevent and detect crime, make arrests and enforce
the laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof, other
than parking ordinances, and includes those persons employed as
campus police officers at state institutions of higher education in
accordance with the provisions of section five, article four,
chapter eighteen-b of this code, and persons employed by the Public
Service Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight
enforcement officers charged with enforcing commercial motor
vehicle safety and weight restriction laws although those
institutions and agencies may not be considered law-enforcement
agencies. The term also includes those persons employed as rangers
by the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in accordance
with the provisions of section six, article fourteen, chapter
twenty of this code, although the authority may not be considered
a law-enforcement agency: Provided, That the subject rangers shall
pay the tuition and costs of training. As used in this article,
the term "law-enforcement officer" does not apply to the chief
executive of any West Virginia law-enforcement agency or any
watchman or special natural resources police officer;

(7) "Law-enforcement official" means the duly appointed chief
administrator of a designated law-enforcement agency or a duly
authorized designee;

(8) "Municipality" means any incorporated town or city whose
boundaries lie within the geographic boundaries of the state;

(9) "Subcommittee" or "law-enforcement trainingprofessional
standards subcommittee" means the subcommittee of the Governor's
committee on crime, delinquency and correction created by section
two of this article; and

(10) "West Virginia law-enforcement agency" means any duly
authorized state, county or municipal organization employing one or
more persons whose responsibility is the enforcement of laws of the
state or any county or municipality thereof: Provided, That
neither the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority, the
Public Service Commission nor any state institution of higher
education is a law-enforcement agency.

§30-29-2. Law-enforcement professional standards subcommittee.

(a) AThe law-enforcement training subcommittee of the
Governor's committee on crime, delinquency and corrections is
hereby createdcontinued and renamed the Law-Enforcement
Professional Standards Subcommittee. The subcommittee has the
following responsibilities:

(1) Review and administration ofadminister programs for
qualification, training and certification of law-enforcement
officers in the state; and

(2) Receive and review affidavits of separation from law-enforcement officers of this state by the procedure created
pursuant to subsection (l), section three of this article. As the
Governor’s committee designee, pursuant to section five of this
article, the subcommittee, pursuant to the procedure set forth in
section (n), section five of this article, may consider the
application of any law-enforcement officer whose certification is
inactive as a result of his or her separation from employment from
a law-enforcement agency.

(b) As it relates to the application of an officer for
reactivation of his or her certification pursuant to section five
of this article, the subcommittee is authorized to examine
witnesses and to subpoena persons, books, records or documents from
law-enforcement agencies in this state.

(c) The subcommittee shall be comprised of eleven members of
the Governor's committee including one representative of each of
the following:

(1)The department of public safety,West Virginia StatePolice;

(2) law-enforcement section of the Department of Natural
Resources;

(3)the West Virginia Sheriffs Association;

(4)the West Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police;

(5)the West Virginia Deputy Sheriffs Association;

(6)the West Virginia State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police;

(7)the West Virginia Municipal League;

(8)the West Virginia Association of county officials;

(9)the Human Rights Commission;

(10) West Virginia Trooper’s Association; and

(11) the public at large.

(b)(d) The subcommittee shall elect a chairperson and a vice
chairperson. Special meetings may be held upon the call of the
chairperson, vice chairperson or a majority of the members of the
subcommittee. A majority of the members of the subcommittee
constitutes a quorum.

§30-29-3. Duties of the Governor's committee and the subcommittee.

Upon recommendation of the subcommittee, the Governor's
committee shall, by or pursuant to rules proposed for legislative
approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code:

(a) Provide funding for the establishment and support of law-enforcement training academies in the state;

(b) Establish standards governing the establishment and
operation of the law-enforcement training academies, including
regional locations throughout the state, in order to provide access
to each law-enforcement agency in the state in accordance with
available funds;

(c) Establish minimum law-enforcement instructor
qualifications;

(d) Certify qualified law-enforcement instructors;

(e) Maintain a list of approved law-enforcement instructors;

(f) Promulgate standards governing the qualification of law-enforcement officers and the entry-level law-enforcement training
curricula. These standards shall require satisfactory completion
of a minimum of four hundred classroom hours, shall provide for
credit to be given for relevant classroom hours earned pursuant to
training other than training at an established law-enforcement
training academy if earned within five years immediately preceding
the date of application for certification, and shall provide that
the required classroom hours can be accumulated on the basis of a
part-time curricula spanning no more than twelve months, or a full-time curricula;

(i) Establish standards governing mandatory training to
effectively investigate organized criminal enterprises as defined
in article thirteen, chapter sixty-one of this code, while
preventing racial profiling, as defined in section ten of this
article, for entry level training curricula and for law-enforcement
officers who have not received such training as certified by the
Governor's committee as required in this section;

(j) Establish, no later than July 1, 2011, procedures for
implementation of a course in investigation of organized criminal
enterprises which includes an anti-racial training module to be
available on the Internet or otherwise to all law-enforcement
officers. The procedures shall include the frequency with which a
law-enforcement officer shall receive training in investigation of
organized criminal enterprises and anti-racial profiling, and a
time frame for which all law-enforcement officers must receive such
training: Provided, That all law-enforcement officers in this
state shall receive such training no later than July 1, 2012. In
order to implement and carry out the intent of this section, the
Governor's committee may promulgate emergency rules pursuant to
section fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code;

(k) Certify or de-certify or reactivate law-enforcement
officers, as provided in section five of this article;

(l) Establish standards and procedures for the reporting of
complaints and certain disciplinary matters concerning law-enforcement officers and for reviewing the certification of law-enforcement officers. These standards and procedures shall provide
for preservation of records and access to records by law-enforcement agencies and conditions as to how the information in
those records is to be used regarding an officer’s law-enforcement
employment by another law enforcement agency;

(1) The subcommittee shall establish and manage a database
that is available to all law-enforcement agencies in the state
concerning the status of any person’s certification.

(2) The information in the database which contains personnel
or personal information not resulting in a criminal charge or
conviction are not subject to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.

(l)(m) Seek supplemental funding for law-enforcement training
academies from sources other than the fees collected pursuant to
section four of this article;

(m)(n) Any responsibilities and duties as the Legislature
may, from time to time, see fit to direct to the committee; and

(n)(o) Submit, on or before September 30 of each year, to the
Governor, and upon request to individual members of the
Legislature, a report on its activities during the previous year
and an accounting of funds paid into and disbursed from the special
revenue account established pursuant to section four of this
article.

§30-29-5. Certification requirements and power to decertify or
reinstate.

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (g) below, noa
person may not be employed as a law-enforcement officer by any West
Virginia law-enforcement agency or by any state institution of
higher education or by the Public Service Commission of West
Virginia on or after the effective date of this article unless the
person is certified, or is certifiable in one of the manners
specified in subsections (c) through (e) below, by the Governor’s
committee as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements promulgated
pursuant to this article: Provided, That the provisions of this
section do not apply to persons hired by the Public Service
Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight enforcement
officers before July 1, 2007.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (g) below, a person who
is not certified, or certifiable in one of the manners specified in
subsections (c) through (e) below, may be conditionally employed as
a law-enforcement officer until certified: Provided, That within
ninety calendar days of the commencement of employment or the
effective date of this article if the person is already employed on
the effective date, he or she makes a written application to attend
an approved law-enforcement training academy. The person’s
employer shall provide notice, in writing, of the ninety-day
deadline to file a written application to the academy within thirty
calendar days of that person’s commencement of employment. The
employer shall provide full disclosure as to the consequences of
failing to file a timely written application. The academy shall
notify the applicant in writing of the receipt of the application
and of the tentative date of the applicant's enrollment. Any
applicant who, as the result of extenuating circumstances
acceptable to his or her law-enforcement official, is unable to
attend the scheduled training program to which he or she was
admitted may reapply and shall be admitted to the next regularly
scheduled training program. An applicant who satisfactorily
completes the program shall, within thirty days of completion, make
written application to the Governor's committee requesting
certification as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements. Upon determining
that an applicant has met the requirements for certification, the
Governor's committee shall forward to the applicant documentation
of certification. An applicant who fails to complete the training
program to which he or she is first admitted, or was admitted upon
reapplication, may not be certified by the Governor's committee:
Provided, however, That an applicant who has completed the minimum
training required by the Governor’s committee may be certified as
a law-enforcement officer, notwithstanding the applicant’s failure
to complete additional training hours required in the training
program to which he or she originally applied.

(c) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
the effective date of this article and is a graduate of the West
Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia State
Police cadet training program, or other approved law-enforcement
training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry
level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt
from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training
academy. To receive certification, the person shall make written
application within ninety calendar days of the effective date of
this article to the Governor's committee requesting certification.
The Governor's committee shall review the applicant's relevant
scholastic records and, upon determining that the applicant has met
the requirements for certification, shall forward to the applicant
documentation of certification.

(d) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
the effective date of this article and is not a graduate of the
West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia State
Police Cadet Training Program, or other approved law-enforcement
training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry
level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt
from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training
academy if the person has been employed as a law-enforcement
officer for a period of not less than five consecutive years
immediately preceding the date of application for certification. To
receive certification, the person shall make written application
within ninety calendar days following the effective date of this
article to the Governor's committee requesting certification. The
application shall include notarized statements as to the
applicant's years of employment as a law-enforcement officer. The
Governor's committee shall review the application and, upon
determining that the applicant has met the requirements for
certification, shall forward to the applicant documentation of
certification.

(e) Any person who begins employment on or after the effective
date of this article as a law-enforcement officer is certifiable as
having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement training program
requirements and is exempt from attending a law-enforcement
training academy if the person has satisfactorily completed a
course of instruction in law enforcement equivalent to or exceeding
the minimum applicable law-enforcement training curricula
promulgated by the Governor's committee. To receive certification,
the person shall make written application within ninety calendar
days following the commencement of employment to the Governor's
committee requesting certification. The application shall include
a notarized statement of the applicant's satisfactory completion of
the course of instruction in law enforcement, a notarized
transcript of the applicant's relevant scholastic records, and a
notarized copy of the curriculum of the completed course of
instruction. The Governor's committee shall review the application
and, if it finds the applicant has met the requirements for
certification shall forward to the applicant documentation of
certification.

(f) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
or after the effective date of this article and fails to be
certified shall be automatically terminated and no further
emoluments shall be paid to such officer by his or her employer.
Any person terminated shall be entitled to reapply, as a private
citizen, to the subcommittee for training and certification, and
upon being certified may again be employed as a law-enforcement
officer in this state: Provided, That if a person is terminated
under this subsection because an application was not timely filed
to the academy, and the person’s employer failed to provide notice
or disclosure to that person as set forth in subsection (b) of this
section, the employer shall pay the full cost of attending the
academy if the person’s application to the subcommittee as a
private citizen is subsequently approved.

(g) Nothing in this article may be construed as prohibiting
any governing body, Civil Service Commission or chief executive of
any West Virginia law-enforcement agency from requiring their law-enforcement officers to meet qualifications and satisfactorily
complete a course of law-enforcement instruction which exceeds the
minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and training
curricula promulgated by the Governor's committee.

(h) The Governor’s committee, or its designee, may de-certify
or reactivate a law-enforcement officer pursuant to the procedure
contained in this article and legislative rules promulgated by the
Governor’s committee.

(h)(i) The requirement of this section for qualification,
training and certification of law-enforcement officers shall not be
mandatory during the two years next succeeding the effective date
of this article July 9, 1981 for the law-enforcement officers of a
law-enforcement agency which employs a civil service system for its
law-enforcement personnel, nor shall such provisions be mandatory
during the five years next succeeding the effective date of this
article July 9, 1981 for law-enforcement officers of a law-enforcement agency which does not employ a civil service system for
its law-enforcement personnel: Provided, That suchthese
requirements shall beare mandatory for all such law-enforcement
officers until their law-enforcement officials apply for their
exemption by submitting a written plan to the Governor's committee
which will reasonably assure compliance of all law-enforcement
officers of their agencies within the applicable two or five-year
period of exemption.

(i)(j) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Governor's
committee made pursuant to this article may contest suchthe
decision in accordance with the provisions of article five, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.

(j)(k) Any person terminated from employment for not filing
an application to the law-enforcement training academy within
ninety days after commencing employment as a law-enforcement
officer may appeal the termination to the Governor’s committee for
reconsideration on an individual basis.

(k)(l) Beginning July 1, 2002 until June 13, 2003, any
applicant who has been conditionally employed as a law-enforcement
officer who failed to submit a timely application pursuant to the
provisions of this section, may be conditionally employed as a law-enforcement officer and may resubmit an application pursuant to
subsection (b) of this section to an approved law-enforcement
training academy. If the applicant is accepted, the employer shall
pay compensation to the employee for attendance at the law-enforcement training academy at the rate provided in section eight
of this article.

(m) Active certification as a law-enforcement officer is based
upon employment with a West Virginia law enforcement agency or
agencies. Whenever, after the effective date of the amendments
made to this section during the 2011 Regular Session of the
Legislature, a law-enforcement officer ceases working in the
capacity of a law-enforcement officer, his or her certification
shall become inactive. The certification shall remain inactive
until the subcommittee authorizes reactivation of the officer’s
certification pursuant to the procedure set forth in subsection (n)
of this section

(n) A person whose law-enforcement certification has become
inactive pursuant to the provisions of this section may make
application to the subcommittee to have his or her certification
reactivated prior to accepting employment with a law-enforcement
agency in this state. Any person who makes application to the
subcommittee for reactivation of his or her certification, whether
for employment purposes or otherwise, shall sign a waiver
authorizing his or her previous law-enforcement employer to release
his or her personnel file to the subcommittee which the
subcommittee is to consider in determining whether the reactivation
of his or her certification is appropriate. A copy of the
information submitted to the subcommittee shall be provided to the
person seeking to be reactivated. Upon receipt of the application,
the subcommittee is to notify the law-enforcement agency from which
the person was separated of the application to be reactivated and
the law-enforcement official, or his or her designee, shall provide
the subcommittee with an affidavit of separation stating the reason
or reasons for the separation from employment. A presumption shall
be created that an officer is eligible for reactivation if the
affidavit of separation indicates that the separation from
employment did not arise from circumstances that would make the
officer ineligible from being certified and the subcommittee may
issue a temporary reactivation certificate, subject to a final
decision by the subcommittee. After considering the information
presented, the subcommittee, if acting as the designee of the
Governor’s committee, shall, within thirty days from receipt of the
information, and in writing, make a finding as to whether the
person should have his or her certification reactivated. Nothing
in this section shall be construed as requiring the rehiring of an
officer by the law enforcement agency from which the officer
separated even though the subcommittee authorizes his or her
certification to be reactivated.

(o) A law-enforcement official, or appointing officer, or his
or her designee, is immune from civil liability for providing to
the subcommittee the information required or requested in this
section.